However Wollaston, a former GP, does not support industrial action. "A strike would be harmful for patients, damaging for doctors & damaging politically. No winners here just a bitter & avoidable mess," she added.

Yesterday Hunt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he hoped the (BMA) would "honor and respect" the result of the general election that saw a Conservative majority.

Wollaston recently revealed her own daughter, a doctor, had decided to move abroad due to working conditions in the UK. Not just her, but her husband and eight of their closest friends - all gone. And they arrived in a hospital Australia where they've yet to meet a junior doctor trained in Australia within the casualty department," she said.